- Could India be there too? :The Internet of tomorrow: 100Gbps to your house by 2030 http://bit.ly/dpmlf6 #
- Belgian newspaper issues 3D edition, complete with glasses http://bit.ly/cWLhFX #
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If minister of state for communications and IT, Sachin Pilot, is to be believed, India will be a fully wired country pretty soon. The minister says that the Rs.17,000 crore ($3.5 billion) in the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) will be utilised to connect 626,000 villages. He says that it would entail setting up 11,000 communications towers, and that state-run BSNL will be entrusted with this mammoth task. Sounds good so far. 
Financial Times puts archive online http://bit.ly/8ZzouC. All 120 years. 17 Years since 6 December 1992 http://bit.ly/6d1MQi (pdf): editorial @E_P_W National Green Tribunal Bill, 2009: Proposals for Improvement http://bit.ly/7X9KwY (pdf) in @E_P_W How science is shackled by intellectual property http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/26/science-shackles-intellectual-property ‘We Like Lists Because We Don’t Want to Die’: Umberto Eco http://tinyurl.com/yj6xw4m Schools ought to teach the high art of how to be discriminating — Umberto Eco http://tinyurl.com/yhps2hq — Couldn’t agree more. An interactive map on Merkel’s new cabinet. Good one! http://fwd4.me/5TE Google says: State of the eUnion: Government 2.0 and Onwards http://21gov.net/book/ Media Legal Defence Initiative to defend journalists and media outlets worldwide: http://www.mediadefence.org/ It is getting difficult to keep track of this mess: EGoM to discuss 3G spectrum today http://bit.ly/t0Jlb Internet Users In India Grow 17% Y-o-Y To 35.8 Million; Growth Rate Lower Than Asia-Pac Average http://bit.ly/RXmq5 (via feedly) Manya Gupta says her tryst with journalism began with:’national level anti-reservation protest’. End of celebration. http://tiny.cc/CCSKR Is this a plug?: Your SMS is not secure, but help is at hand http://bit.ly/3fa8ih (via feedly) Manya Gupta, s/w engineer in Indian teleco is 4th winner of a Knight News Challenge “programmer-journalist” scholarship http://tiny.cc/CCSKR Top Internet Trends of 2000-2009: Democratization of News Media http://tiny.cc/fwubT IOJ Google to pop Chrome OS cherry…: Google to pop Chrome OS cherry tomorrow? http://bit.ly/2aFTg5 (via feedly) http://bit.ly/2eEhvA IOJ HT Media Demerges Hindi Busine…: HT Media Demerges Hindi Business; Unlocking Value In Growing Regional Print M… http://bit.ly/MnWr3 IOJ Here’s a surprise as far the m…: Here’s a surprise as far the media scene in the US is concerned: http://… http://bit.ly/4aL1wE IOJ Searched Twitter for #100Thing…: Searched Twitter for #100Things <http://twitter.com/search?q=%23100Things>: h… http://bit.ly/MQIyG IOJ The Obama-Effect in Journalism…: The Obama-Effect in Journalism: Decentralized Editorial Power http://tinyurl… http://bit.ly/38nv2L
Searched Twitter for #100Things <http://twitter.com/search?q=%23100Things>: http://tinyurl.com/yk4w6ol The Obama-Effect in Journalism: Decentralized Editorial Power http://tinyurl.com/y9atkpe Here’s a surprise as far the media scene in the US is concerned: http://tinyurl.com/ycsgud8 HT Media Demerges Hindi Business; Unlocking Value In Growing Regional Print Media http://bit.ly/cisYF (via feedly) Google to pop Chrome OS cherry tomorrow? http://bit.ly/2aFTg5 (via feedly) “If you don’t have a democratic heart, you don’t belong in journalism in the first place,” Jay Rosen at Media140. http://bit.ly/3DzF5F I’d says it’s got it wrong: Has the Times got it right with its online charging plan? | Steve Busfield http://bit.ly/2ExCpm (via feedly) Govt Announces HITS Policy; Foreign Investment Upto 74% Allowed http://bit.ly/4b2JU6 (via feedly) Why I’m Leaving Google http://fsmsh.com/2820
What’s New About The New Orkut; To Open Mobile API: http://tinyurl.com/yjglf22 Too little too late? Iftikhar Gilani writes that there was a conference at CPA on media, no mention in their site. eh? http://tinyurl.com/yhaottu Wish we could have a more sustained dialogue on media: ‘Media has become a commodity’ http://tinyurl.com/ylykp35 RT @DaisyWhitney: @shwood: There’s something really special about podcasting. It’s a whole, rich world that’s a total secret from most folks But in Guardian: Readers would pay for online news, study shows http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/16/news-corporation-newspapers 80% Of Consumers Say They Would Not Pay For Online Content http://tiny.cc/lAfy6
RT: @TheEconomist: The World in 2010, compilation of predictions for the year ahead… http://bit.ly/4ovaO1 Why?: RT @the_hindu: Twitter to scrap suggested user list http://bit.ly/41sJ8B IOJ Thanks RT @nersesian: @onlinej…: Thanks RT @nersesian: @onlinejourno What do US Indian businesspeople think a… http://bit.ly/4rZa8y IOJ Noorani: An incongruity, intro…: Noorani: An incongruity, introduced as a result of sheer neglect, became an o… http://bit.ly/yC6D5 IOJ Noorani: An incongruity, intro…: Noorani: An incongruity, introduced as a result of sheer neglect, became an o… http://bit.ly/vDQab IOJ Today’s tweets: Weber Shandwick Social Impact Survey Finds http://impact.webershandwick.com # IOJ RT: @adityakuber: #timesnow an…: RT: @adityakuber: #timesnow and #aajtak the first to report the #earthquake…. http://bit.ly/4BT12r
RT: @adityakuber: #timesnow and #aajtak the first to report the #earthquake. Speed! I feel they are picking up a lot of info from #twitter..
Noorani: An incongruity, introduced as a result of sheer neglect, became an obscenity created by wilful resolve http://tinyurl.com/ya83c64 Noorani: An incongruity, introduced as a result of sheer neglect, became an obscenity created by wilful resolve. http://tinyurl.com/ya83c64 Thanks RT @nersesian: @onlinejourno What do US Indian businesspeople think abt globalization?Asian Indian Chamber study http://bit.ly/3rVhVz Weber Shandwick Social Impact Survey Finds http://impact.webershandwick.com
RT: @julie_posetti: For those who may have missed it: @hermida’s excellent paper on Twitter as ‘ambient journalism’ http://bit.ly/47OuUW News for Pvt FM radio: Efforts on to launch first radio news agency http://tinyurl.com/ydsuub3 Twitter now provides a one-stop, real-time service for all of a person’s content http://tiny.cc/nU5uF Is that changing the Face of Media? IOJ IOJ Today’s tweets: New Jour…: IOJ Today’s tweets: New Journalism in New Society http://tinyurl.com/yz2bfr… http://bit.ly/2×6uAU IOJ IOJ Getting political on socia…: IOJ Getting political on social ne…: Getting political on social network si… http://bit.ly/3JNdf8 IOJ IOJ New Journalism in New Soci…: IOJ New Journalism in New Society …: New Journalism in New Society http://t… http://bit.ly/3qNAbu IOJ IOJ Today’s tweets: Let’s …: IOJ Today’s tweets: Let’s see how far this will go: US ‘to question’ S… http://bit.ly/PvOdv IOJ IOJ Today’s tweets: Let’s …: IOJ Today’s tweets: Let’s see how far this will go: US ‘to question’ … http://bit.ly/2crWOF IOJ Today’s tweets: Let’s see how far this will go: US ‘to question’ S Lanka army chief on Wednesday http://t… http://bit.ly/Jpm2b IOJ Today’s tweets: Let’s see how far this will go: US ‘to question’ S Lanka army chief on Wednesday http://t… http://bit.ly/a8XO4 IOJ New Journalism in New Society …: New Journalism in New Society http://tinyurl.com/yz2bfra I’ve liked: Online … http://bit.ly/f3fLO IOJ Today’s tweets: New Journalism in New Society http://tinyurl.com/yz2bfra I’ve liked: Online journalism is, fi… http://bit.ly/5vl4s IOJ Getting political on social ne…: Getting political on social network sites: Exploring online political
Getting political on social network sites: Exploring online political New Journalism in New Society http://tinyurl.com/yz2bfra I’ve liked: Online journalism is, first of all, a lesson in humility.
Let’s see how far this will go: US ‘to question’ S Lanka army chief on Wednesday http://tinyurl.com/yhcgmuz McChesney & Nichols: Yes, journalists deserve subsidies too http://ur1.ca/eupu
New Yorker piece: Get Ready for .?? http://bit.ly/13BiHn New journalism ventures are cropping up, but where’s the business model? http://tinyurl.com/yf4kss4 A Graphic History of US Newspaper Circulation Over the Last Two Decades http://tinyurl.com/yfwwvh4 Media houses call against FDI in broadcasting http://bit.ly/Wpywm
The latest edition of EPW is up at http://www.epw.in/
IOJ Today’s tweets: IOJ @glynmoody on Cloud Computing:…: @glynmoody on Cloud Computing: Good or Bad for Open Source? http:.. http://bit.ly/A33Gi IOJ Today’s tweets: IOJ RT glynmoody: RT @psychemedia …: RT glynmoody: RT @psychemedia A data.gov.uk powered newspaper for.. http://bit.ly/35fmV IOJ Today’s tweets:
@glynmoody on Cloud Computing: Good or Bad for Open Source? http://bit.ly/2nCja
RT glynmoody: RT @psychemedia A data.gov.uk powered newspaper for your postcode… http://bit.ly/4hFbHH #g2010 >>very cool
IOJ Excellent resource: Teaching O…: Excellent resource: Teaching Online Journalism and Communication .. http://bit.ly/2TpjJO IOJ RT @inarratives Thanks for the…: RT @inarratives Thanks for the shout out! Other valuable links as.. http://bit.ly/6gDuh IOJ Today’s tweets: 85 wordpress plugins for blogging journalists http://bit.ly/Q0pb8 # Check out thi.. http://bit.ly/wqSro IOJ RT @nixxinRT @jwyarow: Here’s …: RT @nixxinRT @jwyarow: Here’s a lil scoop–NBC t.. http://bit.ly/JmoMQ IOJ RT @ejcnet: Iran, nukes and th…: RT @ejcnet: Iran, nukes and the press: Are international media fa.. http://bit.ly/wWGsn Excellent resource: Teaching Online Journalism and Communication http://serenacarpenter.com/ RT @inarratives Thanks for the shout out! Other valuable links as well | The Top Five Multimedia Journalism Websites – http://bit.ly/4sweiH
RT @nixxinRT @jwyarow: Here’s a lil scoop–NBC takes a $125 million loss on an Indian TV investment says source http://bit.ly/R9Bpr RT @ejcnet: Iran, nukes and the press: Are international media failing as they did before the Iraq War? http://bit.ly/1vOM9 RT @ejcnet: RT @metropopan Finally, the end of milk and honey socialism on Facebook RT @mashable: A “Dislike” Button – http://bit.ly/1oJYAX Seven common newsroom myths about online journalism by David Higgerson http://bit.ly/2lUesP Worth a discussion? RT @ShivamVij: RT @contentSutra NBC Universal Is Exiting NDTV Networks; Who Will Come In? http://cnt.to/iiV How The Huffington Post uses real-time testing to write better headlines http://tinyurl.com/yzpkcm6 Study: Most Internet traffic bypasses tier-one networks http://tinyurl.com/yhehwcb Check out this SlideShare Presentation on LinkedIn : Investigative Journalism- African Elections Project http://tinyurl.com/yzqapae 85 wordpress plugins for blogging journalists http://bit.ly/Q0pb8
Pragoti editorial on Unique Identification Project http://pragoti.org/node/3638 There has been a discernible increase in the number of women journalists especially in English language newsrooms. But it is no surprise that women have not made it to decision-making positions in most news organisations.  The following statement was issued by the South Asia Media Solidarity Network at its meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, on September 6-7. We, the representatives of journalists’ unions and associations in the South Asian region, meeting on the platform of the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN), express our deepest concern over continuing violations of media rights in Sri Lanka, and call on the government of the country to uphold the international human rights covenants it is party to. We are shocked by the August 31 verdict of the Colombo High Court, sentencing J.S. Tissainayagam, a widely respected journalist and human rights defender, to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment on terrorism charges. We note that world press freedom bodies and the diplomatic community have with virtually one voice condemned the trial and sentencing of this Tamil journalist, whose concerns embraced all causes and all ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. An already bad situation for journalism in Sri Lanka has turned markedly worse this year, with the daylight murder of Lasantha Wickramatunge, editor of the Sunday Leader, in a busy suburb of Colombo on January 8. Investigations into his murder have made little progress, amid a number of contradictory statements from the government and security agencies. The month of January saw an arson attack on the facilities of the independent broadcaster Sirasa TV and a knife attack on a newspaper editor and his wife in Colombo. There was in the same month a near-lethal assault on a newspaper editor in the eastern town of Batticaloa and an arson attack on his premises. In February, Sudar Oli editor N. Vidyatharan was snatched from a family function in a kidnap-style arrest. He was publicly charged with being a “terrorist” by top officials of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry. Held without charge for three months, he was released unconditionally on court orders. On June 1, Poddala Jayanta, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association (SLWJA), was seized by what seemed a professional hit squad as he was on his way home in a suburb of Colombo. He was hustled into a van and brutally assaulted, suffering multiple fractures, contusions and other injuries, before being thrown out, unconscious, in an open field. Jayanta had been attacked by name over state-owned print and electronic media over the preceding weeks, for his alleged sympathy for terrorism. These aside, there have been a number of verbal threats against journalists and media workers by ministers and other senior persons in government. Several of Sri Lanka’s most well-known journalists have left the country fearing for their lives. We express our solidarity with these journalists and urge the international community to be attentive to their needs for honourable treatment in secure locations, till conditions are appropriate for their safe return to their home country. We believe that this is a responsibility that all countries in South Asia – especially India, the largest country with the longest established democratic traditions – will particularly have to bear. We request the institutions that employed the exiled journalists to support them to the extent that their capacity permits, and allow them on their return to Sri Lanka to resume their profession without any impediment. This year has also witnessed an escalating trend of verbal abuse, followed by administrative action against journalists. On February 1, the Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, issued a warning that foreign media organisations would face “dire consequences” and be “chased out” of the country if they did not behave “responsibly”. He accused three international news organisations in particular of partisan reporting on the situation regarding civilian casualties and suffering in areas of conflict between government forces and Tamil separatist insurgents. Since then, the residence permit of the bureau chief of an international news agency was prematurely terminated, in evident retaliation for a series of reports he had filed on the humanitarian consequences of the war. Access to the north of the country has been severely curtailed for years and remains so over three-and-a-half months since the war ended, so that the stories that ordinary people have to tell about the last days of the war remain unknown to the world. We are especially worried at the refusal of the Sri Lankan authorities to allow independent media access to the camps set up in the north of the country for people displaced in the last phases of the war. We remind the Sri Lankan Government that the public in Sri Lanka and elsewhere has the right to be informed, through independent reporting, of the humanitarian consequences of its military operations and the prospects of an estimated 280,000 internally displaced people for resettlement and rehabilitation. We note with alarm that three journalists from the Sinhala-language weekly Irida Lanka have been detained by the Terrorism Investigation Division of the Sri Lankan police and that official spokespersons are putting out charges of their involvement in an assassination plot. We urge the Government of Sri Lanka to repeal its Prevention of Terrorism Act, which was introduced, ostensibly as a temporary measure, in 1973. Till necessary legislative changes are made, we demand that all cases registered under the law, which have had a chilling effect on the right to free speech, be kept in abeyance. We underline our solidarity with the five main bodies of journalists in Sri Lanka: the Free Media Movement (FMM), the Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association (SLWJA), the Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Unions (FMETU), the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum (SLMMF) and the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA). These organisations form a coalition that should be strengthened and allowed to operate in an environment free from fear, in the wider cause of press freedom and the public right to know.  Media are abuzz with AOL’s latest acquisitions. With this, the story now turns local. I guess that’s what Tim Armstrong will hear from his Indian colleagues next week. The 21st Century India Through Digital Content conference recently held in Delhi, with topic such as Digital Content in Business, Enterprise and Livelihoods should have been infested with journalists. It wasn’t. Except for a smattering of our ilk, there was not one from the power-list of Indian journalism. It really should be an area that should interest journalists. Thanks to Osama Manzar of Digital Empowerment Foundation, I was invited. The event, of course, being supported by the Department of Information Technology of the Government of India and the World Summit Awards, was dominated by bureaucrats and ICT activists. The benefits of digitalization of content and the use of digital media to purvey content are not up for debate. Critical to taking the front seat in this digital drive is the active involvement of the press. It not only has to convey to citizens the benefits of ICT but also that journalists should get to use digital content as primary sources for storytelling. Now, that looks like a tough one, given the state of the government websites and the closed-door-corp-com driven websites of corporate houses. But we’ll get there, hopefully with governments realising that content professionals can help them with sprucing up their websites. To start with, the Department of Information Technology could come up with avset of guidelines and must-dos for government websites to implement. Post-implementation it could be closely watched by Chief Information Commissioner of India Wajahat Habibullah’s people. Of course, rules and oversight by statutory bodies sound good but one really can’t beat an all-pervading culture of information sharing. That is possible when there is a demand for it. And journalists can crank up that demand is they see the benefit having credible information just a click away. The post-lunch session was on education, a very NGO topic, if I may. There was a lot that was discussed — passionate people with informed views on the matter. But my take on it is that the government should not be offered a “digital” excuse for the shoddy implementation of education for all. It cannot become a crutch for the government or a means for profit-many companies to make hay. A robust primary and secondary education system that covers the entire population of this country is a must – period. It is the duty of the State to ensure that adequate funds and means are made available for this important national need. Which essentially means I didn’t talk at all during this session! The last session of the day was very interesting. It was on Policy Framework for Governance & Inclusive Development and the sub-session I attend was on Efforts on Inclusive Content Development through Mass Participation: Web 2.0 Technologies & Media. There were some interesting members in this team, like Latif Ladid of IPv6 Forum, Beatriz Elvira Alonso Becerra from Cuba to name a few. This a topic very close to my heart, and, again, I missed journalist at this session. By constantly returning to these issues, IOJ hopes to be the bridge between journalists and what the WSA and the DEF are doing. ![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=392e0936-7667-4ae9-9d97-59e2b6083dac) There’s this caption for a picture in this New Scientist piece — chilling. DPI is coming to a computer you:
Tim Berner’s-Lee confirms that DPI is ominous for the Internet.  This is an interesting story. It doesn’t come as a surprise. After 8 years of Bush’s dirty tricks, what does one expect. I’ve never got an opportunity to work on GIS but have felt that there are many innovative possibilities for news, even if it is just about interactive maps. Here’s another API to use: http://blog.programmableweb.com/2008/07/14/new-mapping-api-via-esri-arcgis/ This report by Lewis Page (Indian gov: Let us into BlackBerry or we’ll shut you down) slips in a contradiction in a rather matter-of-fact. If “Western governments are widely believed to enjoy such access”, then how can the Indian government’s demand “…set a precedent”. The report ends by saying that negotiations are on.
Tags: RIM, BlackBerry, mobile, Internet On the face of it, this looks bad. But it needs closer reading to pass judgement. Check it out: http://www.ap.org/newmodel.pdf Blogged with the Flock Browser
Tags: AP, news, info overload, journalism Turner International, a unit of Time Warner Inc, has recently bought a minority stake in the Indian production firm Miditech Pvt Ltd, which makes regional-language general entertainment channels. Turner operates the Cartoon Network and Pogo channels for kids. CNN-IBN news channel is it’s venture with Global Broadcast News Ltd. India’s TV industry revenues are forecast to more than double to $11.6 billion over the next four years, making it the most lucrative market in Asia according to research firm Media Partners Asia. Turner International for more TV channels, animation in India Tags: broadcasting, media, Turner, Time Warner I get this a lot:
A lot of people in important places assume that young Indians are aggressive, lecherous and like muck. One hopes that the youth of India will rise to the occasion and disprove these more “knowledgeable” kinds occupying important, well-paying jobs that it’s not necessarily the whole truth. Give em some respect folks…
Can this steam Apple’s transformation into a media company is to be seen. MySpace said on Thursday that as part of the deal it would turn its popular MySpace Music site into a joint venture, bringing in Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group as minority owners. The music companies are expected to make their entire digital music catalogs available for listening and downloading on the new site, which will be introduced later this year.
The deal highlights the music companies’ scramble to keep pace as consumers migrate toward the fast-changing market for digital downloads, upending the industry’s traditional approach to marketing and distribution. It is also an attempt to encourage competition to Apple’s iTunes Store, which some music executives have criticized for exercising too much control in pricing and on other business terms. <<more>> Blogged with the Flock Browser
Tags: music, digital, social networking Even the best news sites in India seem woefully “old” when it comes to understanding the needs of their users. It is not that our brethren in the US are well-versed in the art of communicating. Here’s a good story from NYT that has pointers to what’s on online: Finding Political News Online, the Young Pass It On
technorati tags:online, journalism Steve Yelvington’s got it right: Why does Microsoft want Yahoo, anyway? Here’s why: It’s four o’clock in the afternoon for the Microsoft software empire. At four o’clock there’s plenty of daylight left, but night is on the way.   Read the full post here… That ain’t no innovative headline, believe me. It is in fact about RealPlayer. RealPlayer 10.5 to be precise. According to StopBadware.org, 10.5 “is badware because it fails to accurately and completely disclose the fact that it installs advertising software on the user’s computer.” What’s also bad, or should we say as worse, is it installs “Rhapsody Player Engine software, and fails to remove this software when RealPlayer is uninstalled.” Despite this Firefox promotes in as plug-in. Beware! We need to check this one out: Tilefile. First look. Seems to be a cool one. Need to check it out before a verdict. Tags: web2.0, social networking Althougth the Reuters report doesn’t mention India, the PwC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook must have something about the subcontinent. But the fact that the boom being predicted is based on the increasing use of “high-speed connections and social networking and entertainment sites” should come as an indicator that social networking is here to stay.
Web spending seen rising by double digits to 2011 technorati tags:internet, china, media, PwC, social, networking Thomas K. Thomas’ report on TRAI’s recommendations is alarming, given India’s aim to improve connectivity.
Here’s something that should bring cheer to a very few people in this country: BSNL has the highest minutes of mobile usage across 10 circles, After the war between proponents of GSM and CDMA technologies, there’s
While it is nice to hear that BSNL “appointing a consultant to suggest ways to improve its business processes”, the solution obviously cannot be found in what the familiar suspect — “One of the concerns for BSNL is its huge employee base of over 2.5 lakh.” It would be better to highlight how consistently issues such as, “its tendering process, which has repeatedly held up its expansion plans,” need to be addressed.
More than 50 per cent of the domestic long distance capacity available The Hindu Businessline has a report on the situation. Pantaloons becomes title sponsor of Femina Miss India Pantaloons and BCCL have a new relationsphip now. No surprises here. Just that we need to take note. After all Mubarak is a “democrat” by some standards
UTV’s youth channel Bindass aims to be India’s first local youth brand UTV is to sire a youth channel. Only to be sold off ? Let’s see.technorati tags:UTV, broadcasting, youth, channels Jon Lowder: For New Members of the Blog Reading Universe A good place to start For New Members of the Blog Reading Universe. This is probably a long shot for us in India but surely an indicator of things to come:
Happened across an Online Journalists Association’s site. It is a neat site. The organisation is headed by a Rajesh Kalra. Googled him but got a whole lot of links. I couldn’t quite figure out which Kalra is the online journalist. But I’m happy somebody’s finally done it. All the best folks! Admission to masters degree programme. Journalism is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Developments in technology, politics and society are increasingly putting the media industries and the profession of journalism at the centre of people’s attempt to make sense of what is happening in the world around them. The Erasmus Mundus Masters degree explores the practice and performance of journalism and the media in the context of a new environment brought about by globalization, modernization, commercialisation and professional developments. The scheme offers a unique educational experience. You will study in three European countries. You will be able to specialize in one of three distinct areas of journalism: war and conflict, business and finance and citizenship. You will be part of a group of 40 students selected from a pool of candidates from around the world. You will be part of a network of classmates that draws on a variety of experience and knowledge and meet the global ambitions of the degree. The Erasmus Mundus program in Journalism and Media seeks to produce alumni who will shape the future of global journalism. The degree scheme brings together five leading European institutions in the journalism and media education, combining the best academic research and teaching from the different national educational cultures. The program aims to prepare students for the challenge of working in the new global information society. Globalization is penetrating cultural and social borders around the world and simultaneously reinvigorating smaller regions and feelings of local identity. Political and social power is taking on new dimensions. Cultural awareness and misunderstanding are growing. Journalism is at the centre of these changes.
The focus of the Erasmus Mundus Masters in Journalism and Media is to give participants the intellectual tools for a new and better understanding of reporting the global challenge. indiagoes is a new generation news service that aggregates and delivers Indian news flawlessly. That’s their claim but it looks like they’ve got a good thing going here. They’ve got a blog at: http://blog.indiagoes.com/ Broadband Grew 33 Percent Years’ Time This is a OECD report. Nevertheless, this reflects the trend.Media most trusted institution: Survey Indian’s never cease to surprise! Isn’t it? technorati tags:media, credibility, newspapers Rural India is no more back of beyond. There’s a brand new fortnightly magazine Grameen Today that will focus on providing “a comprehensive knowledge of It is uncommon to hear of journalists involving themselves in helping out the management about the future of a newspaper. I’ve heard only of ownership of newspapers by journalists’ collectives and so on. Here’s a new one: The Los Angeles Times “is dedicating three investigative reporters and half a dozen editors to find ideas, at home and abroad, for re-engaging the reader, both in print and online.” The full story is at : A special edition of The World Debate, one of the BBC’s flagship programmes, will be filmed on Thursday October 26 at the World Congress on Communication for Development in Rome, Italy. Entitled “Is a free media essential for development?” it will be broadcast on BBC World on 28-29 October, as well as made available online. Transmission Times “The World Debate: Is a Free Media Essential For Development?” will be broadcast at the following time on BBC World (all times GMT): Saturday 28 October: 12.10 p.m. / 7.10 p.m. Sunday 29 October: 1.10 a.m. / 8.10 a.m. / 5.10 p.m. For more details visit: http://www.devcomm.org/worldbank/public.asp?idmacro=9&idmicro=21 PIB commences webstreaming, to upload rare photographs on its website This news could ordinarily be considered mundane stuff. But wait a minute, don’t you sense that this gives you a feeling that the Web is becoming inevitable? Somehow this news made me feel so. TRAI insists that operators stick to the Interconnect Usage Charges (IUC) regulation. October 11 is the deadline for compliance. technorati tags:telecom, trai, mobiles, cell, regulations ET: Microsoft unveils updated search engine Windows Live Search
BlogCamp drew to a close yesterday. Successful? Yes. I managed to spend some time there, yesterday. What I came back with is a sense that the online scene is “manned” by sensible people. This bright spark dawned on me not at the sessions but at the smokers’ corner. The conservations that smokers strike when confined to a small enclosure can be truly enlightening. I’m not joking. And, indeed, smoking is injurious to health. But it was there that I met Dr. Subho Ray of the Internet & Mobile Association of India. In our extended conversation I came away with a sense that, yes, we can do something by being a part of their efforts. In the coming days we should get a better sense of what’s possible. Then there was Siva Prasad V. Cotipalli of Oracle, Samrat Choudhury of HT, Jai Shankar and Nikhil Kulkarni of PlanetRead, who told us about the interesting stuff their are doing. It was nice bumping into Osama Manzar of Digital Empowerment Foundation too. Got to have a closer look at what they are doing. Osama’s 8-year-old, who was a full participant at the unconference, was a big draw. Meeting Deepak Karambelkar and Preetesh S. Chouhan brought memories of our days in indya.com. It is necessary to network like this but I guess the show must travel to other places to make it pan-Indian. Great job guys! Sunil and Kiruba need special mention here, but surely there were a whole lot of enthusiasts who made this possible. So, has blogging become mainstream? Well, if you go by some of the views aired at the meet, yes. But no, one had to listen to those views on the sidelines. There is great quite a lot of conversation going on. That’s is certainly something to be happy about. Talking and sharing hasn’t exactly been the strength of Indians. That definitely has changed. Ok, off to a meeting now. The debriefing will continue. Please visit: http://124.7.147.238:8080/ There is live chat on at: http://www.ircatwork.com/cgi-bin/irc/irc.cgi Pro-Israel lobby targets BBC online poll ‘Megaphone’ lobbyware mobilisationBBC History Magazine was forced to remove an online poll after it was targeted by a project aimed at influencing internet opinion in Israel’s favour.… One has to rue the woefully inadequate debate on media policy in India. There aught to be serious effort at organise public opinion on issue such as the Broadcast Bill. Statements have been made that all “stakeholders” will be consulted. But the public doesn’t seem to figure in the list. Here’s a link to a good document on media regulation in the U.S. We can take a few cues from there. Policy Principles for Media Regulation Policymakers should consider regulation’s effect on consumers, innovation and free expression when proposing restrictions and regulations on media platforms, says a new paper by the Progress and Freedom Foundation.
To launch cricket-centric sports channel, NEO Sports, by year end.
It make big news when Nimbus got the cricket telecast rights. Next , Murdoch buying a stake in Nimbus was hot too. But Nimbus joining Star to launch a cricket-centric channel. Man, that’s boring. technorati tags:cricket, broadcast, nimbus, star, murdoch, television, sports Reliance shelves foray into TV news The Reliance group has junked its plans to get into television news business. This Business Standard report did surprise me. Reliance thinking about getting into the news business? Well media policy will come of age soon. It should, PLEASE.
technorati tags:television, reliance, ambanis, media, policy, ownership Business Line : Desktop sales may cross 56 lakh units: MAIT Desktop sales in fiscal 2006-07 are expected to cross 56 lakh units, according to a report by Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT), an industry body. Desktops and laptops taken together crossed 12 lakh units for the quarter April-June of FY2006-07. But another important point is: Notebook sales touched 1.8 lakh units recording 125 per cent year-on-year growth and 18 per cent sequential growth. Server consumption is expected to accelerate in the future, with increased investments in corporates, especially manufacturing and retail. I don’t quite get what this is all about. A 60 per cent stake? Something to keep an eye on… Essel may take 60% stake in UNI Media West, an investment company promoted by Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group is close to picking up about 60 per cent stake in the news agency United News of India (UNI) for an undisclosed amount. Five years after the first internet bubble burst, we’re now witnessing the backlash against Web 2.0 and a plethora of me-too business plans, marketing pitches and analyst reports exploiting the nebulous phrase. Berners-Lee calls for Web 2.0 calm | The Register technorati tags:internet, technology, bubble, web2.0 Clickz.com has a report on the “Top 15 Online Populations and Web Properties Worldwide”, and for a change India is listed. For a worldwide population of unique online visitors at 713 million India with 1.8 million comes a lowly ninth yet is there. The point that needs mention here is that “visitors exclude traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs”. India has a significant number of users surfing the Net from cybercafes, as the recent NRS data shows. The figure could be much higher if that’s taken into account. Increasingly new media companies have to confront this:
The choice is not so easy but the issues at stake are. This one’s for posterity. Tanuja Chandra’s Hope, and a Little Sugar is a thoroughbred Net flick. It “has been produced almost entirely on the internet, from location hunting to costumes and script changes.” So it qualifies as India`s first web film to hit screens. In an experiment in collaborative journalism, Wired News has set up a wiki. Wired’s got a Ryan Singel to get things going.
technorati tags:wiki, online, journalism The Indian Express reports that our own Election Commission is going to go with openoffice. That’s goods news. Let’s hope the trend continues and more and more organisations in India go in for open source software. The Hindu reports that: “Nearly 10 days after the Bombay High Court passed an order banning adult content on movie channels, cable operators here continue to block out nine movie channels. The stand off is a result of the confusion that has arisen following the Court’s ruling in a public interest litigation.” “Adult content” in India can just be the film songs that are broadcast all day by all channels, to start with. But this puritanical indigestion has to be stopped. It is all the more surprising that the secular parties are indulging in such gimmickry.
Broadcasters have to offer pay channels on an a la carte basis — stupendous But the broadcaster are set to go to court. This is again a case where policy and people find themselves at a huge distance from each other. The proposal this time is for the consumer. It needn’t be so every time. BS: CAS prices head for tribunal, Bills in CAS areas may see 40% drop The Audit Bureau of Circulations, which has 411 publishers of national and regional importance, 151 advertising agencies, 51 advertisers and 20 new agencies and associations connected with print media and advertising as its members released the National Readership Survey (NRS). Although urban India has shown a faster growth — from 2.3 per cent to 3.4 per cent, a 1.2 per cent of the country’s population 12 years and above log on to the Net every week. In actual numbers, it now stands at 9.4 million from 7.2 million last year. According to the NRS:”The number of individuals who accessed the Internet in the last 3 months increased marginally from 10.8 mn to 13.0 mn in 2006.” Of the 13 m, 10.8 m user are in urban India, nearly 1.8 m users are in rural India — a huge potential for cyber cafes in rural India? But the number of users in rural India has stagnated, the NRS has found. But cyber cafes, with 34 per cent of users surfing from them, 30 per cent from home and 20 per cent from office, is the main source of access for people. The medium to watch though is mobile phone. It reaches 22 m users. Although usage is higher among young urban audiences and 44 per cent of the 22 m reside in 42 metros, with value-added features such as downloads, accessing news and cricket scores and SMS attracting 38 per cent of the users. The availability of local content surely has a role to play here. With 3G the medium can only get hotter. The Hindu reports: “Radio panchayat”, a new programme that will broadcast the progress of development projects taken up in gram panchayats, was launched at Maragodu village in Madikeri taluk in Kodagu. Every Tuesday and Thursday from 6.30 p.m. to 7.50 p.m. people can call up and seek clarifications from panchayat representatives and officials. Ahllo, Ahllo, who’s running the show? I couldn’t gather that from the news report. Television Eighteen India Ltd is emerging as a serious player in the Indian internet space. This “new” media group has its internet properties under Web18. Exchange4media reports that Web18 has acquired Cricketnext.com and Compareindia.com. The group boast of news website such as IBNLive.com, which should make it a serious contender as a vertical portal what with Moneycontrol.com being part of the group and having “a significant stake in Yatra.com and Jobstreet.comâ€. The vast majority of the urban educated in India have a fair knowledge of English. Therefore, when Wikipedia lists 13,23,383 articles written in English, some of those can claim to have authorship from India.
Since Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that allows anyone “irrespective of qualifications and expertise†to add content while being its strength is also a source of controversy. The user-generated encyclopaedia is based on Wiki technology, which allows editorial access to user with or without registering. It’s popularity is probably no justification for concerns of being a viable reference source. It was a pleasant surprise to happen upon a newsletter on the Indian media by Chronosphere’s CEO Bhupesh Trivedi “personally”. Trivedi’s been bringing it out since May 2004, all the more surprising that I found out only now. The eradication of disease, malnutrition, pollution, and illiteracy — real concern in much of the world, including the “developed” one, can be achieved by using appropriate technology. The Stanford Social Innovation Review list 10 such technology that can make a difference in the qualities of life of the majority of the people of the world. Here’s the list drawn up by John Voelcker: Treating Human Waste: A South African company offers a self-contained toilet that treats waste without water or chemicals, protecting precious drinking water from contamination. Enviro Options (Pty) Ltd., Kya Sands, South Africa. Cleaning the Air: A U.S. nonprofit has developed an inexpensive kit that turns smog-belching two-stroke engines – the kind that power mini-vehicles throughout Asia and Africa – into cleaner-burning, fuel-efficient sources of power. Harnessing the Sun: An Indian company is selling small-scale solar Enhancing Nutrition: A Canadian nonprofit is partnering with African Malnutrition Matters, Ottawa, Canada Educating the World: A prestigious U.S. university is making many of its Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fighting Illiteracy: Design That Matters Inc., Cambridge, Mass., United States Hib Vaccine Team, Havana, Cuba, and Ottawa, Canada Helping People See: An Oxford University professor has invented low-cost Adaptive Eyecare Ltd., Oxford, England A Pakistani organization is selling ergonomically correct Centre for the Improvement of Working Bridging the Digital Divide: A Brazilian nonprofit is rolling out telecenters that CEMINA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil No surprise here. The churn in the newspaper business is getting more interesting. The Pioneer too is a candidate when the FDI norms ease. Priced at Rs.38,000 car navigation systems haven’t really caught the fancy of Indian car owners. There have been only disparaging comments about Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s brainchild the Lok Sabha Television. Here’s a thorough look by the Business Standard. India takes on offshoring naysayers India rejects One Laptop Per Child Netscape versus Digg Blogosphere Doubles Every Six Months
“India is under attack from rogue elements within and outside the country, not only in its physical space (think Mumbai), but in cyberspace too. Extensions “.co.in†and “.gov.in†are special targets of hack-attacks, whose number, and intensity, is increasing at a worrying pace,” reads a report from Vandana Gombar in the Business Standard today. CERT-In is the team that was set up to help evade these attacks. Instead if the team is busy trying to figure out which blog needs to be banned, the rogue elements that are causing such damage to virtual property will find the going easier. The filtered coverage of Israel’s attack on Lebanon comes unstuck as people reach the Internet to get what’s really happening out there. Videos on Web widen lens on Mideast conflict “In a matter of weeks, YouTube has become a video Dumpster for a global audience to share first-hand reports, military strategies, propaganda videos and personal commentary about a violent conflict… via CyberJournalist.net The government will not be presenting the proposed Broadcasting Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament. The media industry’s concerns have been presented to the government by IMG and the IBF. The citiznens of India don’t seem to figure the consultative process. There’s still time. Govt to address industry concerns on broadcast bill Under attack from the industry for not hearing its views while drafting the broadcast regulatory bill, the government has agreed to address concerns of the media and entertainment companies before tabling the Bill in Parliament. HT Media Q1 net up 212% to Rs 30.6 cr HT Media on Friday reported a whopping 212 per cent increase in its profit after tax at Rs 30.6 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, against Rs 9.8 crore in the corresponding period previous year. Hearing looks at Internet name privatization plan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department will hold a Wednesday hearing on the government’s September deadline to give up control over Internet domain names, a schedule that some high-tech industry advocates say should be delayed. And phantom registrars suedOver 74,000 .eu domains have been suspended and 400 registering companies sued by the company in charge of the European Union’s top-level domain.… technorati tags:Domains Mid-day Multimedia Ltd is to invest upto Rs 100 cr in its radio business. This is another media organisation that has gone to the market. The numbers, again, are small but this is a company to watch out. Something closer home: they are to start a radio channel in Chennai. Though the market cap is not a huge figure the company is in for some good times given the fact that its political fortune is currently shining brightly, and may do so for a few years more. Sun TV Ltd on Thursday reported a 69.65 per cent increase in profit after tax at Rs 130.23 crore in 2005-06 and has recommended a dividend of 20 per cent for the year.
With a site named Indian Online Journalism and there is no rant about the blocking of the 17 websites or inaccessibility of three popular domains. Yes, strange indeed. There is excellent activism going on already. There is no need for duplicating the effort here save to extend a hand of solidarity. The casual manner in which three popular domains have been taken off Indian cyberspace is appalling. Some websites and online activists have been turning this democratic medium into a hellhole. They have used this democratic space to convey hatred and incite violence. Some of the names of the websites that the government wanted blocked are instructive.
I could access exposingleft from work. The content did not seem to have anything that would compromise “national securityâ€. Of course, the language is vituperative but the Left is no stranger to abusive language, nor, for that matter, are editors unused to such language directed at them, I’m sure. There is no denying that many websites do train their efforts at inciting violence against Muslims, which is simply not acceptable. Indians online would surely have come across well-heeled and self-appointed historians who use the democratic spirit of the Internet to attack “pseudo-secularistsâ€. Most often the attacks on intellectuals have taken the form of undemocratic harangue. If these self-appointed saviours of India’s hoary and glorious heritage have to be shown their place this was surely not the way. The government has done terrible injustice to those who believe in informed and academic debate and can obviously take these “patriotic NRIsâ€. It is a shame. There is the need to haul up those who indulged in this stupidity. But clearly we should call for a transparent set of guidelines to ensure that whenever a need does arise to ban a website it is not done in such an arrogant and ham-handed manner. But there is no denying that anti-democratic forces have reigned in on the Net only to ensure that reasoned debates can continue. Fred Garland referred me to Flock. It is clearly a nex-gen browser. The convenience of bogging and Flickr makes Flock vying for the default browser status. The Web snippet tool is useful but that’s the only tool available in the blogging window. You’ll have to make do with the default theme of the browser. It is the same with extension. But for a beta, straight out, Flock already offers morE features such as managing blogs, pictures, RSS feeds, better than exisiting ones. Flock I felt is faster than Mozilla. I haven’t checked out all the plugins. That will be an important consideration. Let me explore some more and post my views here…. According to Shivam Vij, the 22-page ban order refers to “sites to be blocked”. If that was the case, the ISPs must have gone for the overkill. Why? But that’s not the fundamental issue. In the name of terrorism entities such as the Indian Computer Response Team have become essential. According Vij: “Web sites can be blocked if they contain pornography, speeches of hate, contempt, slander or defamation, or if they promote gambling, racism, violence or terrorism.” But what’s required of the Government of India is to have clearly laid down guidelines for agency to act in such circumstances. The fact that “illegal” read hate sites that are patently undemocratic and people with clear anti-democratic intent have a disproportionate presence online, especially in the India context. The ought to be mechanism to ensure that genuine democratic voices are heard and that fundamentalists do not hold sway or a medium as beautiful as this. In the immediate context, however, the very first question proposed to be addressed to the Joint Director and PIO (RTI) at the Department of Information Technology (DIT), is the crucial one:
The answer to this should be available through journalists on the beat. Why haven’t we still been able to get some informed leak yet? There ought to be a proportionate response to this action by the ISPs. If the government order some website with offensive content to be blocked are they in their right to do so? Secondly, who is the one to decide what is offensive? While a grand coalition has emerged it is crucial that the issue has to be sustaining and should transcend the immediate. We need to focus on freedom of information that is catholic in nature. The fact that so much of firepower is garnered by the blocking of blogs is indicative of the ability to utilise this tool to not only raise but win issues that have a more egalitarian gournding. I would loath to think that the action to call for blocking a few websites were ordered because “terrorists” of the bombing kind were using blog to send out messages. It often is counterproductive to indulge in kite-flying. Here’s a quote Kiruba Shankar’s blog:
These are soundbites that are fun to read. But this is serious. Why blogs? Was it because of hate mongering instead? As of this writing many blogs continue to remain out of bounds — typical bureaucratic overkill. One obviously is concerned about hate mongering. The disproportionate noise that fundamentalists of all hues are able to inflict on the online world is evident. There are techno-fundamentalists, of course, who think that blogosphere or cyberspace will somehow filter hate mongering. That the Indian online scene is dominant by religious fundamentalist — both resident and non-resident — is a fact that deserves a book-length elucidation, where secular intellectuals have been targeted and some have even been hounded out of academic institutions. Self-appointed historians have taken it upon themselves to “defend” India’s hoary and glorious past without as much as having heard the word historiography. This unpardonable ban needs to be condemned. But it also evidence of how the new media are viewed by the authorities. The decision to ban blogs surely was taken by a bunch of bureaucrats. It merely demonstrates the vulnerability of the Internet viz. overt control by the authorities. That we need a independent regulator for the new media is certain, and urgent. Despite some murmurings in the mainstream press, the ban has not made any difference to the majority of Indians. That is where we stand. Until that changes we are the fringe — an elite one at that. The number of Internet Service Provider (ISPs) in the country has decreased from 189 in March 2004 to 153 in March 2006 owing to the steady capturing of market share of ISPs by telecom companies. VoIP, according to Himanshu Dhomse, is one technology that’s helping ISPs fight back. The report by Dhomse in the Business Standard says “the VoIP market is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 278 per cent worldwide.” More headlines from BS: Rupesh Janve & Khomba Singh report in the Business Standard today that the DoT has asked Hutch, Airtel, Reliance, Idea, Tata and MTNL in Mumbai and Delhi and BSNL in three circles to to discontinue all connections issued without proper verification. According to the report “it raises the prospects of millions of mobile connections being disconnected by the end of the month”. But, of course, as BSNL Director, Finance, S.D. Saxena says, “The notice may have an effect on new connections as there is a long waiting list of subscribers, but security cannot be left aside.” Vijayanand Printers (VPL), with Vijay Times with 10 editions and two Kannada newspapers Vijay Karnataka and Usha Kiran, are now firmly in the Bennett, Coleman & Co (BCCL) stable. BCCL with the acquisition enters the fast-growing regional media market. Apparently “readers, advertisers, employees and business associates have all played a vital role in building these brands.” One hopes that it means pink slips and not going to be passed around. Now that’s an offer one can’t refuse! MTNL is offering unlimited surfing for its broadband subscribers and for free. The offer is: no monthly rental, subscribers pay only for the data downloaded. MTNL plans to provide cable TV channels to its broadband subscribers — an issue that might raise the hackles of some in the broadcasting industry. But surely not a issue that has arisen in the “net neutrality” debate in the U.S. Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi’s diatribe against media owners is not without merit. If the proposed Broadcasting Bill facilitates a discussion on the way the media function, we need to welcome it. The Department of Telecom (DoT), because of political compulsions or for having faculties than compradors, has disagreed with the suggestion of the Ratan Tata-headed Investment Commission for “permitting 74 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector through the automatic route“. If one has to stomach the fact that 49 per cent FDI exist, of course, with conditionalities, the demand to raise the limit to 74 per cent is clearly not acceptable “in the larger interest of national security”. On the question of local loop unbundling too the department seems to have sided with BSNL, which is encouraging. DoT according to a Business Standard report said:”Local loop unbundling acts as a disincentive for incumbents for large scale deployments of broadband. Moreover, this would also cause serious commercial and revenue implications for the incumbent.” At 1.5 million subscribers this year up from a few thousands last year, broadband has seen a 600 per cent growth rate, according the Internet Service Providers Association of India. Dial-up users have also grown by 24 per cent to touch 6.9 million users. Net telephony is an attraction that is bound to see rapid growth. A word of caution. Numbers are being quote from various quarters. Maybe one should take them with a pinch of salt. What on earth is innovation journalism? Indeed, there is a website dedicated to it. The “about” section of the site answer the question.
A disturbing part about the Mumbai terrorist attack was the “collapse” or jamming of the cellphone service. According to the Business Standard: “Net becomes the saviour as cell phones go blank“. The report says: “The clogging of telephone networks — both mobile and landline — during the hours of crisis in Mumbai led to an increased usage of Internet.” According to a report in the Business Standard: “Yahoo and MSN Instant Messaging (IM) users from India and 14 other countries will be able to invite and chat with each other beginning today.” Good news! A Business Line story leads thus: “The global entertainment and media (E&M) industry is expected to grow at a 6.6 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) to $1.8 trillion in 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2006 – 2010, released last week.” The expansion of broadband households is to spur the growth of the sector. The report says that the Internet “will remain the fastest-growing advertising medium. Some more good news, eh? This is something very inspiring. K.T. Jagannathan’s report in the business page of The Hindu say that Cognizant Technology Solutions has formed a digital media centre of excellence. High sounding, but it means the company will focus on developing tools for the new media market. I guess you can’t expect these to be available in the FLOSS domain but one needs to celebrate it for the sheer fact that an Indian company of Cognizant’s stature is focussing on media tools. Something good will come out of it. The big news is that blogging is very desi now. The Economic Times and JuxtConsult’s India Online 2006 survey has this surprise for us. A good 86 per cent of the respondents are active blog readers. According to the ET report, 41 per cent online Indians prefer Indian language websites. The internet shopping market is about 4,000 crores. Two other figures are important: 37 per cent of users are from non-metros, and the other is that 46 per cent users access the Net from cybercafes. Positives signals, surely. Ever since I read the story of Prabhat Khabar by Harivansh in Practising Journalism: Values, Constraints, Implications, I’ve been keen to follow the Jharkhand paper’s success story. But visiting its website was a disappointment. You are welcomed by an atrocious homepage – a flash page, “please enter”. Today exchange4media reports that Prabhat Khabar has launched an e-paper. By the way, this site too boasts of the ubiquitous photogallery, with, you guess right, “beauty queens”. Pageviews? You can be different folks…. Thomas K Thomas reports in the The Hindu BusinessLine today that Net Telephony usage outpaced the international long distance market. Taking a swipe at BSNL or the public sector is standard practice these days. So the late arrival of Net Telephony is, obviously, because of the highly regulated licence regime. And the good thing about Net Telephony reaching a billion minutes, even bigger than the outgoing international long distance telephony market, which is pegged at around 600 million minutes a quarter, is that users don’t pay ADC – Access Deficit Charges – to hell with disconnected India! BSNL and MTNL, the two public sector behemoths in India, will be rolling out 3G services by the end of the year. Unfortunately, the two have missed the World Cup bus but one hopes that the two will be available strike good deals to bring “good content” to this new platform, Mobile TV. The World Soccer Championship is the first major event to be telecast for mobile TV. According to hardware industry association MAIT, PC sales in India crossed the 5-million mark. What’s significant about the report is the growth of PC sales in smaller towns. The growth rate is 35%. According to the news report in ET:”Aggressive pricing from brand players cannibalised the market for assembled personal computers.” The desktop PCs had registered Rs.8,884 crores in revenues in 2005-06. A Reuters report by Jeremy Pelofsky says: “The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee approved sweeping communications reform legislation on Wednesday that would make it easier for telephone companies like AT&T Inc. to offer subscription television to consumers.But the panel narrowly rejected attempts by some lawmakers to strengthen safeguards on Internet service, which had pitted high-speed Internet, or broadband, providers such as AT&T against Internet companies like Google Inc.” The full story is at: here Parks Associates, a U.S. market research organisation has researched on digital living trends in 13 markets in Asia, Europe and North America. India finds mention but only at the the very end. Here’s a BBC report. Nevertheless it should please many. The scenario in the Indian media has been quite grim in the last few years. The country has only a few prominent media houses that not only influence the news but are also monitored by either big corporate houses or powerful political parties. Read More….. A glossary of terms related to the Digital media industry. Click on a term to read its desription. The upgraded Digg.com, due out on Monday, threatens to further disrupt a professional news industry already reeling from the fragmentation of mass-market audiences, the rise of self-published blogs and rapid changes that have reshaped the advertising markets on which publishers have long depended. John Siracusa argues why the Tiger x86 kernel is an evolutionary dead-end, and why Leopard may see an all new kernel when it is released later this year. Could it be L4? Here’s what Susan Crawford thinks about Net Neutrality. She’s a professor at the Cardozo School of Law and on the Board of Directors of ICANN. Trust Andy Carvin to bring up something new and interesting each time he writes: Students Expose Sex Offender Through Wikipedia Research. This is Andy’s post on January 18 but it is still worth recording for posterity at IOJ. From Mrs. Suha Arafat Dear Intending partner, This mail may not be surprising to you if you have been following current events in the international media with reference to the Middle East and Palestine in particular I am Mrs. SUHA ARAFAT, the wife of YASSER ARAFAT, the Palestinian Leader who died recently in Paris. Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture. As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with everybody in the country at the moment.You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the discovery of some fund in my husband secret bank account and companies and the allegations of some huge sums of money deposited by my husband in my name of which I have refuses to disclose or give up to the corrupt Palestine Government. In fact the total sum allegedly discovered by the Government so far is in the tune of about $6.5 Billion Dollars. And they are not relenting on their effort to make me poor for life. As you know, the Moslem community has no regards for woman, hence my desire for a foreign assistance. You can visit the broadcast below for better understanding of what I am talking about; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3479937.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3995769.stm I have deposited the sum of 20 million dollars with a private security firm abroad whose name is withheld for now until we open communication. I shall be grateful if you could receive this fund into your bank account for safe keeping and any Investment opportunity. This arrangement is known to you and my personal Attorney. He might be dealing with you directly for security reasons as the case may be. In view of the above, if you are willing to assist for our mutual benefits, we will have to negotiate on your Percentage share of the $20,000,000 that will be kept in your position for a while and invested in your name for my trust pending when my Daughter, Zahra, will come off age and take full responsibility of her Family Estate/inheritance. Please note that this is a golden opportunity that comes once in life time and more so, if you are honest, I am going to entrust more funds in your care as this is one of the legacy we keep for our children.In case you don’t accept please do not let me out to the security and international media as I am giving you this information in total trust and confidence I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good faith. Please expedite action and all response to my Email address below. NB / Please reply to: The notification of 24 sports events that private broadcaster have rights for will henceforth be shared with Doordarshan. The bizarre trajectory of India’s media policy continues. This time it seems more on the sensible side of the debate. Apparently, Private FMs may not be able to join DTH platforms. Depending on which side of the fence one wants to belong to, this rule might be seen as progressive or regressive. I go with the progressive point of view. SMS cutting into voice usage, says a study from IDC India. In fact, no surprises here. But the fact that “user[s] sends 6 messages (SMS) in a day and receive 8,” on average, owing essentially to intrusive marketing, is evident. TRAI has to implement punitive measures to curb this annoying strategy by the hordes of marketers. The chief culprits seem to be banks peddling either credit cards or loans. Listen to some biggies say what they think blogs are. From Webmaster Toolkit: Counts Media sounds like a company that’s doing some fabulous stuff. It claims that it’s expertise lies in “innovative theatrical experiences, interactive urban art, and the application of emerging technology to entertainment”. I’m sure whatever product comes out the crucible will be of relevance to the world of online journalism as well. A company, Email Data Source Inc’s business it to “analyze, organize, and archive thousands of daily email marketing messages” and, of course, make money by doing that. On day one itself Sun TV has become the “second most valuable company in the media space”. The market capitalisation of the company stood at Rs 10,099 crores.
Check Netvibes. It allows users to create personalised home pages that include news, email, search engines and other features. The process is very non-technical. Although I’d like more flexibility. A headline in The Progressive reads thus: VA Nurse Investigated for “Sedition†for Criticizing Bush. Hallelujah! http://news.com.com/FAQ+When+Google+is+not+your+friend/2100-1025_3-6034666.html?tag=nl http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01/21/google_subpoena_roils_the_web http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/01/20/EDGEPGPHA61.DTL http://news.com.com/%20Bill+would+force+Web+sites+to+delete+personal+info/2100-1028_3-6036951.html The January 24 newsletter by Frank Barnako has two noteworthy titbits on online journalism: LATimes is to move members of its online team “to take seats in regular newsroom departmentsâ€. Now that is nothing novel, and, indeed, such moves can only make sense with a rethink about the entire news process, which obviously means that newsroom management should not be about merely moving people around. There are more issues involved here; the news cycle will be completely different for one member of the desk. How’s that to be factored in? How’s going to take the call on which stories goes online and which does not? And more such issues that will be difficult to negotiate. According to the new guidelines for downlinking for foreign television channels announced by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry:
The rub is in sharing content of cricket and other events of national importance with Prasar Bharati. If public interest is the basis of media reform then the professional and economic independence of media practitioners is a yardstick to measure the scenario. Read Free Press’ views on Labour Rights. Indiantimes’ latest “strategic alliance” is with Legalpundits.com. Another ace indeed. Indiatimes takes the cake and eats it too, followed, of course, by the old warhorse rediff, and, finally siffy. But when it comes to tipping the hat for e-commerce in India, the Indian Railways deserves it the most.
Media companies will base their strategies on these trends. The foot soldiers will have to do their bidding. The times are such. The news that “Internet advertising will account for 10 percent of total U.S. ad dollars” is something to celebrate about, although we’d have to wait for 2010 for that to happen. Subhash Chandra, who started off as a vegetable oil manufacturer, now lords over the Zee-Essel group. Try the eReadiness country data. Here’s what I got for Brazil, China and India:
India has to do a lot more to improve its teledensity, to put it mildly. Although the diagram is drawn from figures for 1999, the figure for 2003 is looks a lot better for India; it is 5 lines per 100 people. Google’s being demonished for sometime now. This is, of course, a terrible way to start writing. Stating the obvious is simple not good. But when Spiegel Online writes an editorial piece on Google we need to take note, that’s all. Sorry, I was a bit slow on the uptake. Here I refer to a report that appeared in NYT on November 16. Have you tried Google Base? Gary Price has a post on it at Search Engine Watch. India obviously does not figure in the top 15 countries in broadband subscribers. When there is talk of restructuring a public institution by the government one is entitled to be apprehensive. It could be the beginning of privatisation initiatives. The Bill of Media Rights ostensibly concerns the media situation in the United States.
Media That Use The Public’s Airwaves To Serve The Public Interest
Media That Reflect And Respond To Their Local Communities
CONCLUSION Without a doubt K.R. Narayanan was the best President of India. It is a relief that this great man did not suffer much at the end. His illness was brief. The fact that Narayanan started his working life as a journalist is a matter of pride for us. Journalism’s loss was no loss at all considereing the fact that he served the country so well. India is better off that way. Read a tribute by Vidya Subrahmaniam in The Hindu: K.R. Narayanan — President who defied stereotype The Times of India has a site to Light a candle for the great Indian. IOJ has existed for more than five years now. It started of as a forum and has acquired a website as well. |
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My colleague Praveen Swami figures prominently in the list of awardees of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards.
